Sport-hunting investor counting losses in Apaa

Apaa, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  With a 20-year hunting concession awarded to a South African company over Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA)’s protected reserve in the disputed Apaa land left with only three years to expire, its proprietor Bruce Martins is almost losing hope of ever recouping his investment that includes an airfield he built, boats and other equipment.

UWA doesn’t deny that it signed a concession agreement with Lake Albert Safaris Ltd to operate a sport-hunting business in East Madi Wildlife Reserve which covers parts of disputed Apaa land.

Disputes over Apaa land that borders Amuru and Adjumani districts commenced around 2012 when UWA started forceful eviction of hundreds of residents claiming it is a gazetted East Madi Wildlife Reserve.

Local leaders in Amuru district have severally blamed the government for pushing for the eviction of settlers on the land with intention of giving it out to an investor to carry out the tourism business.

Long-serving UWA official, the Kidepo Valley Conservation Chief Warden Samuel Amanya last week acknowledged that Lake Albert Safaris Ltd, a private tourism investor had indeed won a concession in East Madi Wildlife Reserve.

He says the investor had already signed an agreement with UWA and the host district for the sport-hunting business but didn’t divulge the number of years the concession will run.

Amanya says East Madi Wildlife Reserve which falls in the disputed Apaa land was among the other 11 areas across the country UWA had identified to introduce sport hunting after piloting the business for eight years around Lake Mburo.

He however notes that the conflicts that erupted over the Apaa land created an unconducive environment for the investor who decided to withdraw from operating the sport-hunting business.

The UWA Communications Manager Bashir Hangi however says UWA’s interest in Apaa isn’t based on grounds that a concession was issued but to carry out its mandate of conservation.

Hangi also noted that UWA isn’t interested in taking sides with the two districts that are currently conflicting over the land maintaining that their role remains in conservation.

He however didn’t disclose how many hectares of land was given out to the investor to establish the sport hunting business.

Uganda Radio Network however established that Lake Albert Safaris Ltd, run by Bruce Martins, a South African tourism investor won a 20-year concession in 2006 to establish the sport hunting business on a more than 800 Square kilometers of the gazetted East Madi Wildlife Reserve.

In a 2015 interview with Uganda Radio Network, Martins however revealed that he withdrew from proceeding with the business following the escalation of conflicts over the land.

Martins says he had already set up camps, established an aircraft runway, and had a patrol boat on the river Nile as part of a set up for the business but they couldn’t succeed in the wake of the bloody conflicts.

Tensions over disputed Apaa land spiraled in the past years between the two communities of Acholi in Amuru and Madi in Adjumani who both claim ownership of the fertile strip of land resulting in grave injuries and death.

In February this year, the government issued a 90-day ultimatum to settlers on the Gazetted Wildlife Reserve and Forest Reserve to vacate or face forceful eviction. The eviction threat was however later halted by President Yoweri Museveni who called for the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry into the Apaa land conflicts.

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